Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-02-24
EAST AFRICAN DRUGS.
VEGETABLE POISONS USED FOR
AMOUNTING SPEARS AND ARROWS.

4 Running Plant Whose Active Prin-
ciple is Similar to Strychnine-The
"Poison Tree"-Narcotic Indulgence
Confined to Tobacco.
Of curative drugs the east African
manifests but little knowledge. Near
Lake Ugombo a small wild aloe, when
the green skin has been peeled off, forms
an ice cold and healing application to
burns; and in the neighhorhood Of Oar
es-Salaam highly aromatic plant, with
hairy purple stalks, called arcaza-
mudi. is reputed good native cure for
pains in the stomach. The Somalis oc-
casionaliy eat the 10 al variety Of dragons
blood, q resin of acidulous flavor obtained
from the rGoli tree fDraC. ona schizanthal.
Between Zanzibar and Dar-es Sslaam oc-
ours a creeper with bean like, hairy, S
shaped pods having severe singing pow
ers; it is about four inches long, of yell
lowish brown color, and is called upupu.
The pain yields to cowdung and wood
ashes. In the same region broad bladed
grass called mwanga mwitu enjoys some
fame as styptic
ARROW PoISoNS.
Arrow poisons come much moro promi-
nently within the range of native study,
and most tribes use some description of
vegetable poison for amounting their
spears and AFRO rs The most important
is species of Strophanthus, either S.
hispidus or s kombe, which will proha-
bly, prove TO be the sole source Of this class
of poison used on the eastern coast, from
60 To, Fa,. int
the interior. The plant is runner. bear
ing large, rough ribbed leaves arranged
in clusters of three or four together
Each shoot consists of three branches of
which one bears the seed and the other
two the leaves The flower is yellow
with curiously tailed petals. The seed
has the form Of a huge military frog
| button, with lobes nine inches long and is
| the direct source of the poison This, ac-
cording to St Vincent Erskine, is called
| umtsuli in GAIA or southern Mozambique,
| and is so energetic that men wounded by
arrows in the tieshy part of the leg have
| been known to die within thr"e hours,
and with small bucks the poison takes
effect before they Fan run ont Of sight.
| He lkens the active principle to strych-
| nine.
These facts quite accord with the de-
scriDtiOn given by R. ". Felkin and 4. W.
| Gerard of the poison used by the Nanika
| and Wakamba tribes. west of Nom basia,
| except that several roots are supposed TO
| contribute to the deadly effect. These
authors mention an antidote composed of
| sundry roots reduced to charcoal, which,
however, proved q failure on trial. Care
full investigation of the umtsuli reveals
| the fact that it is n powerful cardiac
| poison, rs powerful as dicitalin and more
| powerful than veratria when injected
under the skin But it causes only
| nausea. vomiting and some weakness
| when taken by the mouth.
THE "PoIsoN TREE."
| The flesh Of animals killed by this
poison is eaten by the blacks without i'll
effects Probably identical with this is
| ihc poison tree, = from the roots of which
| the natives of SomaH land extract black
| and pitchy substance for poisoning their
! arrows, Perhaps. also, the pitch like
! poison obtained from the boiled down
! bark of q tree used on the Rufiii river fol-
| application TO arrows. lances and even
! bullets, and the muavi or poisonous de
coction of the bark of tree employed IN
! the trial bv ordeal Of the natives of the
! Nyassa and Zambesi valley, is the same
| article under another guisc.
Indulgence il narcotics appears TO be
confined to tobacco, which is very com.
Eaonly grown under cultivation. 1t is 6
special product Of the Handel district,
whence considerable quantities of the sun
dried leaf, beaten into little round fat
cakes about two inches in diameter, are
| sent down to Pangani for export.
The tobacco is coarse and strong but Of
fairly good flavor. The kiswahili use
water pipes Ckiko) made of gourds Of vari
Gus shapes They swallow the fumes il
smoking and seem to enjoy the paroxysu
| of coughing which results.-Journa
| Society of Arts.